Hillsborough County Fire Rescue took the 34-year-old victim to the hospital, the fish and wildlife commission said, adding that it sent a contracted alligator trapper to the lake and continues to investigate the incident. About 1.3 million alligators live in Florida, in all 67 counties, according to the commission. The agency recommends that people stay away from alligators and avoid handling or feeding them. Nuisance alligators — those 4 feet or longer and believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property — are trapped and killed by the agency through its statewide Nuisance Alligator Program. A total of 9,442 nuisance alligators were killed in 2021, the commission says. There have been at least three fatal alligator attacks in the US this year. In July, an elderly woman died after falling into a lake and being mauled by two alligators in Florida. Another person was killed by an alligator near a retention pond in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in June. And a Florida man was killed by an alligator while searching for Frisbees in a lake in late May.